Back in the game

[Zarkatos]

Portraits and portrait sketches, few old and new

[Zarkatos]

concept sketches and stuff

[Zarkatos]

More, lots of very rough/quick stuff, and some more pencil studies, frazetta acrylic study,concept sketches , couple old pieces and studies as well. rough plein air, line self portrait, ammo container & tank concept ,claptrap etc some experiemental stuff too, showing my good and bad work as well.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              - image selector keeps messing up so sorry about the double tank image

[Fedodika]

welcome back!

Seems like youre getting the hang of things here and there. Only thing id reccomend is to spend more time on things, say your frazetta study, try to really really make an effort to learn as much as you can from that image, theres so many wicked cool things about edges and anatomy and style in that. 

Painting that by hand will train you to know what it feels like to go that far and push stuff the way he did, which will pay off big overtime. 

And for your experiments, id suggest pick one artist and try to emulate their sketches. Say Wes Burt, everyone knows him, alot of people like a decade ago made a lot of progress trying to copy his style. If you pick an artist you love, and try in your own sketches how to make your work more like theirs, that adds up quick too. But focus on one artist at a time to gain a bag of tricks at your disposal ;)

[Zarkatos]

Thanks a lot Fedodika :) good advice, I think sometimes I need to realize I shouldn't be in such a hurry to improve and spend more time finishing studies, but there's such a higher level i've always dreamed of reaching, far beyond what I may reach in a lifetime. I'll take your advice to heart. 

I think out of all living artists my favorite would be Craig Mullins, and was thinking of starting his course, Frazzetta would definitely be another artists style and art I love. It's good to recognize that and see that, to help me approach how I want  my art to be, so you were very helpful. Besides that all the concept artists for Blizzard basically lol

There's something to paintings in modern day that look like the old masters. When I really think about it my favorite artists have that in common, and i'll try to approach my work like that from now on. The combination of realism, painterly, and fantasy is something I always wanted ever since I was a kid,
 
I just love great imaginative paintings, the problem is my drawing skills need work and I usually make up for that by painting. So I definitely need to work on both, it just takes me a really long time to improve, I started my first sketchbook on Conceptart.org at 12 years old, all the way up til it shut down, guess you can say I really try to make up for my lack of talent with effort.                                                                                                               

That's why I get discouraged sometimes because I've put in the effort, talking thousands of hours but I improve so slow, but for me it's my life goal to accomplish my dream so I won't give up. The thing is though growing up poor moving from home to home in foster care didn't give me the best education or resources either, now that I have access to them I'm sure I'll improve faster. Anyways gonna get back to arting :) I'm usually not much of a talker.

[Zarkatos]

Just a rough self portrait (top) a colored version of a previous sketch, and a few stages from a tutorial, some rough pen stuff, and a random imaginary sketch.

[Fedodika]

personally, ive found the most value in prokos premium courses and watts online; it gave me the direction, appreciation for the medium and structure in my routine.

That and copying lots of the masters of anatomy books took me to where i can at least make a few bucks consistently.

bargue and the old school stuff like harold speed are great too, having a strong sense of direction is vital so you dont just have a vague idea of what you want and have a trajectory to go on. if youve got the cash, definitely invest in some courses, watts isnt for everyone (but man is it beautiful for those who can get into it,) but i think proko is pretty universal and i highly recommend his anatomy courses that are paid for, plus you get to keep them forever :)

I think the mullins stuff might be too buried in the painting realm; in my personal opinion i think youd grow more learning how to do nice long form figure and portrait studies in charcoal on paper if you can manage. painting is fun and stuff but really only pays off when you have values really under your thumb and edges. All of this is learned in charcoal and you'll probably grow much faster than studying just random photos and drawing a 3/4 head every now and then.

Consider it! <3

[Zarkatos]

studies n sketch

[VitorCardoso]

I think that maybe you are trying to learn many things at once, particularly I believe that it would be better for you to focus more on the basics of drawing and painting. At schoolism there are good courses in painting basics, I highly recommend Jonathan Hardesty "Essentials of Realism" along with Sam Nielson "Fundamentals of Lighting".

[Zarkatos]

I think that maybe you are trying to learn many things at once, particularly I believe that it would be better for you to focus more on the basics of drawing and painting. At schoolism there are good courses in painting basics, I highly recommend Jonathan Hardesty  "Essentials of Realism" along with Sam Nielson "Fundamentals of Lighting".

Thanks victor! I realize that now too looking back, I'll do just that. Would essentials of realism and his texture class be a good fit together. I really appreciate the advice I just want to be a better artist

[darktiste]

If you ever feel sorry for your emotion just remember that they are normal they can certainly get in the way of good communication but if you practice emotion awareness then atleast your aware of how emotional you are .What can happen is when you don't want to aknowledge your emotion you just keep pushing them away until they manifest in a ugly burst.Being more cold and down to hearth can be hard when we are passionate about something.After all art for most is a kind of art therapy when we fail to express one emotion so i won't blame you if that would be the case.I think you you shouldn't feel sorry if your emotion actually make it way into your he-art-h.Some of the best artist actually manage to channel those emotion brilliantly are you up to the challenge?

[Thomas]

    Agreed with the previous posts here. I constantly look back at the basics, and i still find new stuff, even now. Drawing you emotions out as they are, can help a lot too. 

    Short: No need feel down. :) There are some true glimpses of brilliance in your art over here. Certainly far better then what i can produce. One thing, that i recently, finally, caught myself with, is being very observant of the 3D nature of everything. I mean, one thing is knowing it, and another it "actually knowing and getting" so to say.  

    In the head drawings(previous page), i see a slight skew in the 3/4 view --pointed that out, because that is where it's the most obvious--. What i caught myself is, that i have a tendency to draw one of the features flat - my case the further away eye, usually, and i subconsciously starting using that as a reference, making the second half of the face follow it, thus flattening it. Try searching YouTube for "The Drawing Database". The episodes(long ones) where it shows features being drawn is quite ok in explanation, and can be extremely helpful. 

    Do note, it's traditional, but, occasionally applying traditional practices to digital can assist you a lot. Maybe it helps.

[Shuty]

A lot of work has been done here, good job.
Make sure every study has a meaning for you and it's not just the excuse to paint and the time you spend is actually beneficial.
I did this, and still doing this mistake myself that I study random things. Pick a study and then try to apply it to your personal painting.
Good luck on your journey!

[Zarkatos]

You guys are awesome, I really love art but have been having trouble with hand pain and carpal tunnel, so i had to take a short break from it, I appreciate all the advice guys. Hope to be back doing studies as soon as I can